Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc., formerly known as , is a Japanese

video game development Video game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more speci ...

company. The company is a result of a merger between BEC and Banpresoft by their parent company,

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...

History

, short for Bandai Entertainment Company, was a joint venture by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

and

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

for video game development. They were best known for developing licensed video games for Bandai including ''

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures who inhabit a ...

'', ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'' and ''

Mobile Suit Gundam , also retrospectively known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is a Japanese anime television series produced by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Na ...

''. Bandai eventually took full control of BEC, after Human went bankrupt in 2000, and once Bandai and

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

merged to create

Bandai Namco Holdings (commonly known as and formerly Namco Bandai until 2015, also known as Bandai Namco Group,) is a Japanese mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specia ...

, BEC became a video game development subsidiary for the merged company. was a subsidiary of

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Ba ...

that developed video games. Its name was changed to in March 1997. In April 1998, Banpresoft launched its internal development division, leading to the production of titles such as ''

Super Robot Wars Alpha is a 2000 tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Banpresto for the PlayStation. A version for the Dreamcast, ''Super Robot Wars for Dreamcast'', was released a year later. Gameplay Chronologically, ''Super Robot Wars Alpha ...

'' and subsequent entries in the ''

Super Robot Wars ''Super Robot Wars'', known in Japan as is a series of Japanese tactical role-playing video games produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Banpresto. Starting out as a spinoff of the '' Compati Hero'' series, the main feature of the fr ...

'' series. The company continued to expand, increasing its capital to 200 million yen in June 2002 and relocating to Komagata, Taito-ku, Tokyo in July 2005. By 2007, Banpresoft restructured its development teams, transferring non-''Super Robot Wars'' projects (''Summon Night'', ''Ar tonelico'', etc.) to Banpresto’s Consumer Division. In May 2007, the company moved to Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, inside the Bandai Namco Miraiken building. In May 2008, Banpre Soft became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Games. On April 1, 2011, Bandai Namco merged BEC with Banpresoft in order to streamline and unify the Bandai gaming subsidiaries under one division, whilst the Banpresto brand was re-established as a toy company as part of Bandai Namco's toys and hobby business. B.B. Studio continued to use the Banpresto name on its products until February 2014, when it was decided that all Bandai Namco video games going forward would only carry the Bandai Namco name. In July 2024, B.B. Studio, which was in the past a subsidiary of parent company Bandai Namco Entertainment became a direct subsidiary of Bandai Namco Studios. On March 3, 2025, Bandai Namco announced the change of name from B.B. Studio to Bandai Namco Forge Digitals.

List of games

Notes

References

External links

*
Former Banpresoft website

Former BEC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:B.B.Studio Software companies based in Tokyo Bandai Namco Holdings subsidiaries Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Japanese companies established in 1994